Ink and Steel

Act II, scene vi

Pedro:

I shall see thee ere I die, look pale with love.

Benedick:

With anger, with sickness, or with hunger, my lord,

not with love: prove that ever ILoose more blood

with love then I will get again with drinking, pick

out mineeyes with a Ballad-maker’s pen, and hang me

up at the door of a brothel housefor the sign of

blind Cupid.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Much Ado About Nothing”

“Thou didst send for me, and I am here.”

Annie lay on his bed, her shoes lined side by side beneath it, her hair unpinned and spread like a river on his pillow, spilling over the hand and arm she propped her head upon. “I stink with travel, Will. Wouldst call up water?”

Will, fussing with the lamp, smiled. Her terseness had the welcome sound of home.

“I’m glad thou didst come.” He stepped out the door and down the stairs, found the landlord’s ten-year-old boy, Jack, dozing in the common room.

“Warm water for my wife.” Will dropped half a silver penny on Jack’s lap. “And see if there’s any of the pig left.” He’s only a little older than Hamnet.

Jack vanished into the kitchen so fast he blurred. Will clumped back up the stairs, dizzy with the effects of a long day’s work in the heat. “Water is imminent. And thy supper, too, if thou likst. How are Hamnet and the girls?”

“Growing. Susanna’s tall as a willow. They’re with thy sister Joan. Come home, Will.”

He left the door unlatched and plumped down on the boards beside the bed in the flickering lamplight, the window thrown open despite the stench and sound of the streets. “Thou knowst I can’t.” He reached up without looking, caught her skirts, and tugged until her legs slid over the edge of the bed and her feet dropped into his lap. “I’m good at this, Annie. And …” The door swung open at John’s tap. Will moved Anne’s legs aside and rose to relieve the boy of his bucket and the cold pork and bread. Will latched the door and set the food on the table, shoulders aching as he hefted the bucket.

Anne peeled her stocking down, her leg raised in the air, her skirts in disarray and a wanton gleam in her eye. “Wash my feet for me, Will.” Her bare foot ran up his calf, tickling the back of his knee.

“Annie.” He set the bucket down and sat on the bed beside her, a careful six inches away. “Dost want thy supper?”

“Tis not supper I’m hungry for.” She curled against his back, pressing her soft bosom against his shoulder, her hair across his shoulder like a veil. She smelled of dust and travel, of sweat and great distances, and of sachet lavender.

“I won’t risk thy life for another babe, Annie.”

“Tis not a babe I crave, sweet William. I’m too old to catch.”

“Oh, Annie.” He turned and put his hands through her hair, and closed her eyes with a kiss. “Not so old as that, I warrant. They say a love match never comes out well, but after all I went to winning thee, Wife, would I risk thee? Another birth like the twins would finish thee, and thou wert younger then.”

“It wasn’t so bad.”

“There was blood through the ticking, Anne.”

“There’s someone else.” Flatly, a dead inflection that squeezed his heart like a fist.

“A player’s dalliances. No one who matters. A husband’s prerogative, in the absence of his wife.”

She tugged her skirts out from under his leg and squatted beside the bucket, unlacing her bodice and pushing aside her smock as if the bitterness in her voice were the tones of idle conversation. He watched her wash her arms and neck, the shadows under the well-nursed softness of her breasts. The lamplight streaked her hair with an unfair quantity of gray.

“I’m well provided for. Where does the money come from, Will?”

“I’m in favor at the court. And living over a tavern.” He looked around the Spartan room, seeing it through her eyes. “I’m not here often,” he said at last. “I should see to better lodging.”

“Thou canst write plays in Stratford. Thou canst see thy children grow. I’ll content myself with stable-hands.

He turned to her, startled, and saw her rock back on her heels and smile. “If a husband may seek comfort elsewhere, Husband Mouse.”

“Thou wouldst not.” She sighed and stood, her hands linked palm to palm before her thighs. “If thou’lt not risk me, should I risk myself? I die of idleness, Will.”

“Three children and a cottage are not enough housewifery for thee?”

She kilted her skirts up, standing first on one leg and then the other to wash the grime from her feet. Will watched her toes flex, the arch of each foot grip the floor. “I’ll clean my hair tomorrow,” she decided, and stepped around the bucket, leaving footprints like jewels on the boards. Her hands on her hips again, challenging, and the curve of her clever neck. Not so different than she’d been when they’d conspired to marry over family objections, all those years ago.

He coughed into his hand. “If thou wilt not tumble me,” she said as she came to him, “wilt at least come to thy bed and comfort me with thine arms?” He blew out the lamp and did as she asked, and pretended not to hear her weep.

Until the small hours, when the noise from the street below grew slighter and she moved against him, mumbling into the dark. “I want a business, Will. If thou hast playmaking, then give me something other than stitchery and child-chasing to fill the hours.”

“What wouldst thou?” He felt her smile against his shoulder, and knew he was lost.

My lord husband. I could make thee a wealthy man. A long pause, and shimmering wryness. I want to buy land.

Which she could do only in his name and person.

“With the income I send?”

“And mine own portion.” Her held breath stilled against his cheek, he considered.

“Annie,” he said, and still heard no hiss of breath through her lips. “Send me what needst my mark,” he said.

“Mean old biddy. Stripling,” she answered, and kissed his cheek above the beard, and he was sorry that was all.